Friday, 27 February 2015

I'm so late posting this - I hope my DT team-mates will forgive me! It's not been a particularly easy week and not much crafting done either - I'm so glad it's Friday!

Anyway, I hope that you have had a good week - with some crafty time too. And as it's Friday it's time for a new challenge over at CraftyCatz - and this week our lovely Dianne is hosting our challenge of 'Use your die cuts and punches'. Our sponsor for this challenge is DigiStamps4Joy and I've used one of their sentiment digistamps for my card

Apologies for the photo quality - I shouldn't have taken it on a dull day! I've added some stitching and a large bow with ribbon from stash, with the banner using a LaLaLand die.

Do pop over and have a look at the fabulous inspiration from the DT at CraftyCatz and then join us with your crafty creations using your die cuts and punches.

Apologies for being a bit of a rubbish blogger at the moment - I really must make an effort to get around people's blogs. I do enjoy seeing what everyone has been busy making!

Sunday, 22 February 2015

Hello all and I hope that you've had a good week? It was our half term week here and seemed to pass in a blur - it's a bit unfair how quickly it disappears lol! I left husband and son home alone (husband had work and son had 'things' planned with friends!) and headed down to Sussex to spend a few days with our daughter Lauren. It was so lovely to spend some time together - although marred a bit by the fact that my husband's incredibly kind parting gift before I left was to pass on his stinky cold! So although my daughter and I had some precious time together, much of it was also sadly spent sneezing and coughing. Now I'm back home, husband and I still seem to be full of cold - it's obviously one of those that doesn't want to be shaken off quickly - sigh. Youngest son is (wisely) giving us both a wide berth!

Anyway, just wanted to share a card with you that I was able to make before I went away - using one of my favourite Sarah Kay stamps "Time for apple pie"

I've coloured the stamp with Graphit pens and a touch of pencil

The papers are from LOTV, as is the sentiment stamp. I've added flowers from WOC and die cut ivy corner from Joanna Sheen.

And I just thought I'd share a few pics of Lewes, the beautiful little market town in East Sussex where my daughter is now living - taken when we were out on a walk the other day (so excuse the overcast February weather!).

There are lots of these little narrow, cobbled streets (called 'twittens') with such cute little houses - but they are quite steep so I can imagine they're a bit treacherous in bad weather! My daughter lives near the top of one of these - keeps you fit walking up and down the hills lol!

We had a walk through Southover gardens in the town - and you can see Lewes Castle on the hill in the distance in the top photo. They'll be beautiful in a few more weeks when all the spring flowers and blossoms are out!

And then a walk around the Priory ruins, of the 11th Century priory of St Pancras, an active priory until the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th Century. The ruins are open to wander around, with lots of information about how it would have looked, what the various buildings were, etc.

And after all that, we treated ourselves to lunch in a sweet little cafe near the castle! Perfect girly time!

I hope you'll forgive the photo overload - just thought I'd share a few pics of a very pretty little corner of the country!

Friday, 20 February 2015

Hello all and as this is a scheduled post I'm hoping that Blogger plays nicely! I hope that you've had a good week?

As it's Friday, it's time for a new challenge over at CraftyCatz and this week our lovely Anna has given us the theme of 'For a Special Lady' as on 8th March it will be International Women's Day. Our sponsor this week is Bugaboo and I've used one of their fabulous digi stamps for my card

I've coloured her with graphit pens. The backing papers are from LOTV and the sentiment comes with the image. The flower was using a Marianne die.

Just love that attitude!

I hope that you have a look at the fantastic inspiration from the DT at CraftyCatz and then join us with your creation for a special lady!

Sunday, 15 February 2015

Hello all and I hope that you've had a good weekend? Unfortunately husband has had a really horrible cold and despite my best 'avoidance' tactics, I've a nasty feeling that he has kindly passed it on to me.... Sigh. And just when I'm gearing up to going away for a few days to stay with our daughter! I'm not a happy bunny. And I confess that I'm not a brilliant nursemaid - I can supply regular drinks, food, paracetamol and "there, there" noises, but that's about as far as it goes. So I'm frantically dosing myself up with vitamin C and lots of drinks and hoping that I can shake it off pretty quickly.... Hey ho.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share a few pics of the crafty carry-ons that have been going on (in between the hot lemon drinks lol!). I'm currently in the middle of another crochet blanket, doing a gorgeous ripple stripe one this time, using the scrummy 'cottage' pack with a lovely range of colours put together by Lucy at the Attic24 blog. I confess that they're not colours I would have put together, but now that it's underway I love the combinations - sometimes you need the inspiration from other blogs, ideas, etc.!

The wool is the lovely Stylecraft dk acrylic, which is so soft and cosy - and very reasonably priced! I love the different wools on offer - and these packs at the Wool Warehouse are such good value for money.

Now I wouldn't necessarily put those colours together if I was planning it, but I have to admit that they do look lovely now that the blanket is growing!

I'll keep you updated with it's progress! But I've got another couple of projects to be getting on with - and one of those is nicely packed ready for a train journey this week lol!

I'm also still on a mission to produce a few simple, easy to post cards! So this is another one, using the gorgeous sentiment stamps from LOTV

The papers are also from LOTV and the ivy die cut is a Joanna Sheen die, with wooden button from stash.

Anyway, I'll hopefully catch up with you all during the week - and wish me luck in fighting the cold germs lol!

Friday, 13 February 2015

Hello all - I hope your week has been a good one? Thank you for all your lovely comments about the latest crochet blanket which has now arrived at it's destination and spends a lot of its time draped around my daughter! She has reported back that it's very warm and cosy!

A busy week here but we break for half term today - Yippee! (Did I sound a bit pleased there? lol!). And I am so ready for a break as it seems to have been a busy time, lots of things going on - not to mention a certain amount of stressing on my part! Youngest had his mock GCSE exams, daughter hasn't been too well, busy at work - yes, I'm definitely ready for a few days off. And I'm leaving the boys (i.e. husband & son) home alone next week for a few days when I head off to see our daughter in Sussex. It'll feel a bit odd travelling & staying somewhere on my own - I'm so used to being with offspring, husband or friend! I'll leave the males in the house with the usual list of instructions (most of which they'll probably ignore anyway). I might be better off leaving Grumpy Poppy the cat in charge.... We had a parents evening at school for youngest this week and it was the usual 2 hours of traipsing up and down corridors, into various classrooms, talking to teachers about a different boy - well, it seems to be a completely different one to the one that inhabits an upstairs pit bedroom in our house. The one at school is apparently hard-working, quite quiet, high achieving, polite and an all-round nice guy. How odd.....

Anyway, as it's already Friday (where did the week go?) it is time for a new challenge over at Crafty Catz and our lovely Aunty Sue has set us the challenge this week of 'One for the boys'! So we'd like to see your crafty creations with the male of the species in mind. Our sponsor this week is Creative Classroom and they are offering the winner a free seat to an online workshop (valued at $25 or less).

I thought I'd share the card made for my husband who celebrated a birthday very recently!

I've used a digi stamp from Make It Crafty, coloured with Graphit pens

The backing papers are from LOTV as are the little sentiment tags, secured with brads. The hessian and tag are from stash with lettering done using AllOccasions dies.

Hope you like it.

And do have a look at the fabulous inspiration from the DT - and then join in the challenge at Crafty Catz with your 'One for the Boys'!

Sunday, 8 February 2015

Hello all and I hope your weekend is going well - and you're keeping warm! Still cold here, but not quite as cold, although today has started off a bit dreary. I was hoping to don the wellies and gardening gloves and do a bit of 'tidying' in the garden today - or at least to the point where I could see the spring daffodils starting to make an entrance! I'm hoping it cheers up a bit!

Anyway, just thought I'd share a few pics of the latest finished crochet project - a blanket for my lovely daughter Lauren! A friend (who's also a craft addict - very handy sorts of friends lol!) got some wool for me from her local discount store. Now sometimes these 'cheap' wools can be a bit scratchy and poor quality, but I have to say that this chunky wool was so soft and snuggly - and it was crying out to be made into a big cosy blanket! So out came a bigger sized hook and off we went! It was a lovely blend of blue and green shades that came out so nicely as the blanket got going. I just sort of made a pattern up as we went along (a bit like my cooking recipes!) and decided that as the wool was a thick, very chunky wool, the blanket didn't want to be too heavy

It was so warm to snuggle under as it started to grow - definitely a good project for a chilly winter's evening!

And it just sort of grew and grew....

The finished blanket was about 6' x 4' (what I would call a single bed size) and is very warm and cosy, just right for wrapping round you when the weather is a bit chilly! My daughter and her boyfriend are careful about the heating bills (it's odd how they suddenly become aware of how much things cost when they have to pay for it themselves lol!) - and I know how much she likes to snuggle into a cosy wrap, so it's now parcelled up and travelling down to Sussex with Mr Postman!

(Not a very good pic really - lovely winter sunshine, but leaving a big shadow of the door frame right across the chair!)

Apologies for all the pics, but it's so nice when you get a big project finished - and very nice to be able to share it!

Thanks for looking - and for all the lovely comments you always leave. They mean so much!

Friday, 6 February 2015

Hello all, Friday again already? But I am sooo ready for the weekend! Just one more week of this half term left to go and then a week off - and I'm getting excited as I'm leaving the boys here at home to cope and going to spend a few days with my gorgeous daughter in Sussex. I'm hoping we can get some nice girly time together - I've missed that so much since she moved last summer!

Anyway, as it's Friday, it's time for a new challenge over at CraftyCatz. We had some really fabulous entries last week in the stitching challenge so don't forget to see who was the winner and the top 3. This week our lovely Janette is hosting the challenge and it's a nice easy one - 'Birthdays'. So we'd like to see your gorgeous birthday creations. Our sponsor this week is Rick St Dennis and I've used one of his digi stamps for my card (and no, it's not me first thing in a morning - even if it does bear a spooky similarity....)

I've coloured the image with promarkers and Graphit pens

The backing papers are from First Edition, with a computer-printed sentiment, and I've used a Sizzix die to make the flower.

Hope you like it!

Do have a look at the fantastic inspiration from the DT over at Crafty Catz HERE (they really are a talented bunch!) - and then join in with your birthday creation.

Wednesday, 4 February 2015

Hello all and I hope that your week has been going well? A cold and frosty week so far, but also with some lovely blue skies and bright sunshine - even if it's definitely on the chilly side! I broke up the ice on the pond this morning which was a good inch or so thick, so that the birds could get a drink - and topped up the bird feeders. Needless to say, within a few minutes it was like rush hour in the garden - they were obviously waiting for breakfast to be served! Grumpy Poppy the cat watched them for a few minutes from the back door, yawned and then went back to her 'throne' (i.e. the chair next to the radiator in the conservatory, complete with blanket and cushion! Spoilt or what?!).

Anyway, whilst dreaming of Spring and summery colours, I recently made this card for a friend's birthday

The cute image is from Mo Manning, coloured with Graphit pens and a touch of pencil.

The backing papers are from LOTV. I've added die cut flowers using a Britannia die, and used a Spellbinders edge die. The spotty ribbon is from stash, with an LOTV sentiment tag and a LaLaLand banner. Very girly, but I hope you like it.

Monday, 2 February 2015

Hello all, I hope that you've had a good weekend - and that you're keeping warm! Bbbrrr! It's definitely on the chilly side outside just now, but feels so nice to snuggle up under the crochet blanket that I'm currently making for my daughter! It's turning into a VERY warm blanket and I've nearly finished it now, so I'll share a 'Ta-Dah!' moment soon when it's done. I'm loving my crafty woolly projects at the moment, alongside the card-making - there's just not enough hours in a day to do all the things I want to do. I've got plans for scrapbook pages, memory books, sewing projects - not to mention all the crochet projects on an ever-increasing wishlist!

Anyway, just thought I'd share a quick card I made with a lovely sentiment stamp from Inkylicious

I think the wording on this is lovely - and for so many occasions.

The backing papers are from LOTV, with some added stitching of course! A little distress ink, a wooden button from stash and some twine and it was finished. So a very simple card, but quite sweet I think.

Hope you like it.

I'll head off to do some of the h****work jobs that need doing - and then hopefully get the wool out again lol!

And thank you for all your lovely comments - they mean so much. Sadly, I seem to be getting plagued with spam comments again at the moment (they seem to come in waves!) and so I've put comment moderation on again. If anyone knows of a way to stop the spam please let me know!